Interview w/ Randy's bassist Tom Erak

[VillageGirl]

Ah, good to know. Seems more logical. Thanks Funk50.

[UndertheWire]

VG, that fits with what I remember.

As for Glenn's comment about "I wrote it on piano", the context is that he was going to play (on Elton John's piano) and sing live and he was asked about playing piano rather than guitar and he said he should be ok as he wrote it on piano. He could have been more precise about what he wrote on piano, but he was talking while setting up to play.

[Freypower]

From what I remember, Randy had said he was alone after a show and started on the lyrics and phrase, "All alone at the end of the evening. When the bright lights have faded to blue". He played around with it and brought it to Glenn and Henley who helped him write the song, so it was a collaboration. It wasn't just Glenn's muse speaking to him, beckoning him to the piano, and out came TITTL.

Did I ever suggest that it WAS?

Thanks to UTW & F50 for filling in the details.

[VillageGirl]

I suppose this will not go down well but when Glenn played the song on radio in London in 2012 he stated plainly that he, Glenn, wrote the song on piano.

Well now you are crawfishing, aren't you? Does the statement you posted above not give the indication that the author of TITTL was Glenn?
It doesn't matter as I believe this band has been ripped to shreds by its inner turmoil and divided fan base,amongst other things, which is unfortunate.

Thanks again to the OP for the info and to UTW and Funk50 for the clarification.

[Delilah]

I included Mr. Erak's quote about the song b/c it was counter to what I had understood about the song credits. This is how Randy has explained the origin of TITTL in his press thread, according to several links:

How did Take It To The Limit come about?
We drank a lot of beer at the Troubadour – Randy Newman, Steve Martin, Jim Morrison, all these people that we’d know hung out here. We’d go down there and have a few beers. That’s how I started Take It To The Limit. I went back to my house one night from the Troubadour. It was real late at night. I was by myself and started singing and playing, ‘All alone at the end of the evening…’ That’s where it started. I had a couple of verses. Don and Glenn [Frey] helped me finish it just in time to get it on the record.

I thought I read somewhere that he started writing the song on guitar. He also envisioned a more uptempo, rock and roll type song, in the vein of "Tryin'", I suppose, which has a similar theme. What I figured is that he took what he had to Glenn and Don. Glenn slowed down the tempo and changed it to a waltz. That's probably what he meant by "I wrote it on piano." Don probably helped with the music. Glenn more likely had a hand with the lyrics rather than Don, IMO, b/c they don't sound like Henley lyrics to me.

Clearly, Randy had more than a barebones "idea"; unfortunately, his credit for the song seems to have been minimized over the years, perpetuated in part, I believe, by his name being listed last in the song credits in the "The Very Best of the Eagles" album released in 2003 (the same kind of credit rearrangement occurred with Timothy on "I Can't Tell You Why"), as well as his not being out in the public eye promoting himself. A lot of people give Don F grief for frequently mentioning his role in writing HC; but if it were not for this constant plugging, no doubt the same credit minimization would be happening with him, with many people assuming Glenn and Don H 99% responsible for the song.

[Freypower]

Well now you are crawfishing, aren't you? Does the statement you posted above not give the indication that the author of TITTL was Glenn?
It doesn't matter as I believe this band has been ripped to shreds by its inner turmoil and divided fan base,amongst other things, which is unfortunate.

Thanks again to the OP for the info and to UTW and Funk50 for the clarification.

THE MUSIC.

When I wrote that Frey ' wrote the song on piano' I was referring to the music. If you look at my response to NMB I then clarify that as far as I am aware he wrote the music & Meisner & Henley wrote the lyrics. In fact I also stated that in my response to Delilah but you have just leapt on the 'wrote the song' phrase. I am sorry you have misinterpreted my post because I never meant to suggest such a thing. Delilah's post above may be more accurate. All I did was report what I heard Glenn say on radio. If all he did was slow down the tempo then perhaps that is what he should have said.

[UndertheWire]

While it's interesting to get titbits from Randy's former bassist, why does it have to turn into a series of nasty little digs at Henley/Frey? It makes those complaints about negativity in Felder threads seem rather hypocritical. It seems that noone is allowed to criticise Felder for what he actually says or does but it's fine to imagine all kinds of petty transgressions by Henley or Frey. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood but today I'm finding it particularly irritating.

Keep it simple - none of us were there when the songs were written or when the credits were put on different releases of old tracks.

This is from Jack Tempchin last year:

“And because The Eagles and particularly my friend Glenn Frey are some of the few guys that I’ve met in life that are stand-up guys, I never had any trouble getting paid or getting credited for anything.” he adds. “They were just fantastic about that. Unlike a lot of the stories in the music business. They enabled me to just write songs my whole life and not to have other jobs.”

link

[VillageGirl]

While it's interesting to get titbits from Randy's former bassist, why does it have to turn into a series of nasty little digs at Henley/Frey? It makes those complaints about negativity in Felder threads seem rather hypocritical. It seems that noone is allowed to criticise Felder for what he actually says or does but it's fine to imagine all kinds of petty transgressions by Henley or Frey. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood but today I'm finding it particularly irritating.

I find tons of digs at Felder on various threads, some fairly recent. It used to bother me, but I just don't care anymore. I think the practice of criticizing Felder less or using the positivity Felder thread has mostly gone by the wayside, but this is not a Felder forum and it seems most fans favor Glenn and Don H., which is not uncommon.

Keep it simple - none of us were there when the songs were written or when the credits were put on different releases of old tracks.[\quote]


This is very true. Completely agree.


This is from Jack Tempchin last year:
link

Well, Jack Tempchin wrote quite a few of their songs from the very beginning and co-wrote with Glenn and Don often. IMHO, the Eagles really needed him to learn the craft of song writing and to come up with those early hits, so there was no way they were going to screw him out song writing credits and royalties.

[chaim]

It was probably just poor choice of words from Glenn. Instead of saying "I was at the piano when I was working on the song with Don and Randy" he said "when I wrote the song". Or maybe he should have said "when I co-wrote the song".

I don't quite get VillageGirl's comment about the Felder bashing still going on. I have seen only a couple of negative comments lately, and it doesn't make this a Felder bash club. But I haven't followed every thread, so maybe I've missed something...

[NightMistBlue]

Randy is a real honest dude, that's my impression of him. He's always said - far as I know - that Glenn and Don H helped him finish the song. That's good enough for me. Would I like to know more detail? You bet. But I'd like to hear it from the horse's mouth and he ain't talkin'.